Previous offenders

· Last month a sexually suggestive campaign for FHM magazine was banned. The advert appeared to show a woman performing oral sex on a man, which the ASA said was "likely to cause serious or widespread offence".

· Last year the Independent Television Commission received 136 complaints about an advert for Microsoft's Xbox games console. The advert began with a woman giving birth to a baby who then shot out of a window, ageing rapidly as he flew through the air before violently crashing into his own grave. Viewers found the ad offensive, shocking and in bad taste. It was banned from television but continued to be shown on the internet and in cinemas.

· In April 2000 Barnardo's children's charity ran a hard-hitting campaign showing a baby injecting itself with heroin. The outcry that ensued included some newspapers refusing to carry the ad. The ASA ruled that it had tried to convey a "serious and important message". It was replaced by a "happy baby" image, captioned: "The ad we wish we could have run."

· In 1991 Benetton came under fire for its shock-tactic approach to advertising when a poster of a bloody, new-born baby with the placenta attached received hundreds of complaints. Its 2000 campaign showing convicts on death row led to the American state of Missouri threatening to sue.